Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection

What's the world coming to when blasting Nazis and zombies has lost its joy?
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Set against the backdrop of WWII, Return to Castle Wolfenstein plunges players into a maelstrom of action, espionage and covert operations, as an American soldier tasked with infiltrating the heart of Nazi Germany and stopping the darkest plans of the Third Reich. Throughout the game, players are locked in combat with waves of Nazi storm-troopers, undead Teutonic knights and the twisted products of genetic experimentation. Return to Castle Wolfenstein further draws the player into the nightmare with advanced artificial intelligence (AI), photo-realistic character and environment textures, revolutionary effects, and an immersive story that unfolds before the player like a movie.

Back in the day it seemed like there was a single ingredient for sure-fire action success. Anyone who'd seen an Indiana Jones flick knew it -- when in doubt, kill Nazis. How convenient for game designers to have a set of enemies that were not only human, but carried no moral penalty for sticking a shotgun in their face! And, if that's not enough, use zombies -- yet another humanoid group that can be endlessly slaughtered with no regret. It's like living a Metallica song. Read More »

In all my time writing about games for GameSpy, I've reviewed many a port. Bad ports. Hideous ports. Ports of games so terribly rancid that they can choke you up just by being in the same room as them, like secondhand smoke, but invisible, odorless, and incredibly deadly. But that's what ports do. That's just the way of things. Read More »

During my full day of hands-on time with the Xbox and PS2 versions of Return to Castle Wolfenstein (dubbed Tides of War and Operation Resurrection, respectively), a light bulb appeared above my head many times -- in true cartoon fashion. How!? Insane!? There's no way!? They must be using uranium to power this demo machine!? Those were just a few of the thoughts that popped up. Luckily, Kevin Cloud, co-owner and artist at id Software, was on hand to calm my hyper-active imagination and explain just how they coaxed such great performance out of the PS2 and Xbox. Read More »

Unlike parenting, there is no official Book of Game Company Names. So when the founders of id Software had to label themselves, it wasn't as easy as flipping through 600 pages of Sue, Susy, and Susan listings. Peering into Sigmund Freud's notes on psychoanalysis, however, reveals that the id is the keenest, most sophisticated, and expressive sector of the mind. So after a quick glance at the gaming powerhouse's resume -- the Doom and Quake franchises being its PC perfect releases -- the name is, simply put, ohh so fitting. Read More »